Amar'e Stoudemire Gives Homophobic Response When Asked About Having A Gay Teammate

Amar'e Stoudemire is currently playing basketball for Hapoel Jerusalem in the Israeli Premier League, having ended his NBA career after last season. The former six-time All-Star, was asked by an Israeli news outlet what he would think about having an openly-gay teammate and gave an incredibly disappointing response.

While most of his teammates essentially said they would have no problem with it, Stoudemire was caught saying the following:

“I’m going to shower across the street, make sure my change of clothes are around the corner, and I’m going to drive…take a different route to the gym.”

When asked if he was joking, Stoudemire said, “I mean, there’s always truth within a joke.”

Here’s video of his remarks:

Seriously Amar’e? You’re worried about being anywhere near a gay person? You’re afraid you’ll constantly be under attack or pressured by them or be assaulted? Are you nuts? You’re 6’10” and 240-ish pounds, I’m fairly certain you can be a big boy and be around people with other sexual preferences and not feel threatened.

It’s 2017, we should be past this kind of stuff. People with Stoudemire’s attitude are the reason active gay athletes feel like they have to live in the closet.

As False Start points out, this isn’t the first time Stoudemire has been less-than-sensitive to the gay community.

Ryan Phillips

Ryan is a San Diego-based blogger who is a 10-year veteran of the sports writing world. He holds a journalism degree from Indiana University (yes he left San Diego for Bloomington, Indiana voluntarily). He has no pets and a crippling addiction to HBOGo.